Ayala beefing up energy portfolio

MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerate Ayala Corp. is building up its energy portfolio as the Philippines’ oldest family business group seeks to accelerate spending on power and infrastructure, its chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel said.

In energy, Zobel said the group wants to be part of the renewable sector and plans to build up to 1,000 MW but hinted that if there are opportunities, the conglomerate may boost its investments beyond the target.

“The first step is to participate in a meaningful way. We’d like to build up (a portfolio) of up to 1,000 megawatts. We’d like to be part of the renewable sector and the rest is to build up to 1000 MW to be a player and after that, we’ll see step by step. There’s no goal to be the biggest,” Zobel told reporters Friday night.

To date, Zobel said Ayala through AC Energy Holdings is more than halfway through its target of building 1,000 MW of power generating capacity.

“We believe the energy needs of the country are important and we believe that growth in our economy will lead to more energy demand so we’d like to be able to participate in the sector which is a growth sector and be a meaningful player in that sector,” he said.

The conglomerate will take the same tack in infrastructure.

“It depends on the opportunities… There’s no finite number…We never cap ourselves…We set goals for the next couple of years to drive our management team but it never stops there. If returns are good and the investment continues to do well you allocate more capital to it…There’s no finite number you just set numbers for two or three years,” he said.

In infrastructure, its pipeline of projects include bidding for a toll road and an elevated-railway system worth a combined P98.5 billion, which the Aquino administration will auction this year.

Ayala, which boasts of a history of 180 years, starting as Las Islas Filipinas, an agribusiness house in 1834, has earmarked $1 billion in investments in power and infrastructure from 2012 to 2016.

“We wanted new opportunities that had scale, that would be aligned to the national development agenda and infrastructure is becoming important. Throughout our history, we’ve really tried to put a significant component of our portfolio that would in some way contribute to the national development agenda,” Zobel said.